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Committee delays action on draft Fire Commission review after filing discrepancies found
Summary
A committee draft recommended retaining the Honolulu Fire Commission, but members postponed action after the council clerk reported missing annual evaluations the commission said it had filed; Fire Commission chair agreed to refile the reports and the committee asked for corrected documentation.
The Committee on Public Safety and Customer Services on May 1 postponed action on a draft committee report that recommends retaining the Honolulu Fire Commission in the city charter after members and the city clerk identified missing filings of annual evaluations.
The draft report (CC‑124‑2025) compiles the committee's review and recommended that the charter provisions establishing the Fire Commission be retained without modification. David Matlin, chair of the Honolulu Fire Commission, told the committee the commission has visited fire stations and posted required materials to its website and said it would continue station visits and administrative work. "To date, we have visited 32 of the 43 stations, and our goal is to hit all 43 within the next year," Matlin said.
Council Chair Waters questioned a statement in the commission's draft that the commission "responded promptly to the request, including a redelivery of the annual evaluations of the fire chief, which were misplaced on the city council side." The city clerk told the committee that evaluations for 2024 (and earlier years noted in the discussion) were not on file as department communications. Chair Waters asked the commission to refile missing evaluations for 2020–2022 and 2024 via the city clerk so the council record would be complete.
Matlin acknowledged the discrepancy and said the commission would submit the reports through the city clerk. A member suggested postponing committee action until the commission resubmitted a corrected report deleting the clause that the council misplaced the documents; the chair recommended postponing action to a date and time to be determined, and members agreed without objection.
The committee will take up the draft report again after the commission provides corrected filings through the city clerk and updates the committee on station‑visit progress.
